Resource: "We Live 24/7 in Hell": Detroit's Wayne County Jail, 1968-76

The people confined in urban county jails currently suffer, and have long suffered, from some of the most brutal conditions of any incarcerated population in the United States. Two thirds of those inside these jails are there awaiting trial and have not been convicted of any crime. Almost all of those held in jails awaiting trial are there because they cannot afford the bail set for them by prosecutors and courts. America's jailed population is overwhelmingly poor and nonwhite. Many are there because public policy and law enforcement have criminalized their communities through racial profiling and targeted crackdowns. Many have been arrested for minor offenses or for no crimes at all.